Native Title , Mabo and Wik

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Native Title , Mabo and Wik
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Land Rights and Native Title

• In 1976 the Fraser Government passed laws to give
  Aboriginals land rights.
• This did not mean that Aboriginals got their land
• The Law did not include States only Territories

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Terra Nullius No ones land

• Captain Cook declared Eastern Australia to be the
  property of the British Monarch
• in 1770 at Endeavour River, Queensland.
• The land was assumed to belong to no one TERRA
  NULLIUS
• The Aboriginal people were completely ignored.
• Terra Nullius was the reason Justice Blackburn
  denied the Yolngu claim in 1971

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Eddie Mabo

• Eddie Mabo was a Murray
• ( Torres Strait) Islander
• In 1982 Mabo took his land case to court.
• He claimed that his people had been owners of
  their lands for at least 6000 years
• The case took 11 years
• In 1993 the High Court decided that Mabos people
  did own their land
• Eddie had died in 1992.

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No more Terra Nullius

• Eddie Mabo died before the decision but his
  people now owned their land
• Terra Nullius had been abolished
• Native title is now available all over Australia

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Mining and Pastoralists

• The Yolngu people began their land struggle
  against a mining company (Nabalco 1963)
• The Gurindgi people began their struggle against
  a pastoral (meat) company (Vesteys in 1966)

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Money,Money,Money

• The Australian economy depends on mining and
  cattle raising.
• This is all done on Aboriginal land
• The problem of Aboriginal ownership , mining and
  cattle raising remained.
• The question was Can mining and pastoral
  activity co exist on Aboriginal land?

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The WIK decision 1996

• In 1996 the High Court decided that pastoral
  leases did not extinguish native title
• The decision established the principle of co
  existence
• Aboriginal people could own their land and
  negotiate with commercial companies to use that
  land.

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Native Title in Green click for quiz
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Activities

• The Bark Petition - Australian History,
  Indigenous Studies
• Watch the clip and read the notes